Setting up a PPTP VPN connection on a windows 7 based platform is a simple procedure that can be done by following few simple steps. The steps required for the manual configuration of a PPTP VPN connection on a system running on a windows 7 OS are listed as below.
- Go to the ‘start’ menu and then select the ‘control panel’ option. For a classic view, you need to select the ‘control panel-home’ option.
- From the control panel menu, select the option with the name ‘networking and internet’ to proceed with the creation of a new connection.
- Click on the ‘Network & Sharing Center’ option to get access to the control panel of the system related networks. You can also access this menu from the connection dialog box by clicking on the network menu icon on the taskbar and selecting the ‘network & sharing center’ option.
- From the network control center, click on the option to set up a new internet connection to get started with the creation of the network.
- From the list of available connection types, select the option for the ‘workplace connection’ type. After clicking on the link, you will be prompted to create a new connection or any of the existing internet connections that you are already using. Select the option to create a new connection, which will take you to the options for selecting the connection mode. Choose the ‘VPN’ type and click ‘next’ to proceed.
- Now, you will need to fill in the ‘internet address’ and the ‘destination name’ fields, for which you will get the desired information from the welcome mail from your VPN provider.
- Also check the option ‘Don’t connect now’ to avoid connection attempts before the configuration task is finished.
- Next, you will be prompted for the ‘username’ and the ‘password’ for the VPN connection that you will use with it, which you will get from your VPN provider. With this step, the connection is created.
- Look for the name of the connection that you just created in the network sharing center and right click on it to access the connection properties for configuration purpose.
- Move to the ‘security’ tab and set ‘PPTP’ as the ‘type of VPN’ and ‘Optional encryption’ as the ‘data encryption’ type. Then, enable the CHAP and MS-CHAP v2 options under the ‘Allow these protocols’ option.
- Click on ‘OK’ button to save and finish the configuration process.
After this step, your new PPTP VPN connection is ready to be used with the VPN service for which, the configuration has been done.
Connect/Disconnect
To establish a connection or to disconnect from the service, you can go through the relevant option in the connection window, which can be accessed by clicking on the connection icon on the taskbar.
Look for the name of the connection that you wish to connect to, click on the name and then click on the ‘connect’ option.
Similarly, you can disconnect from an already connected network by clicking on the respective connection name and then clicking on the ‘disconnect’ button.
Thus, you are ready to create and use a PPTP VPN connection on your windows 7 based systems.
